Jimmy Cauty’s ADP Riot Tour

Hastings has had its tough times over the years but, even so, the last thing you expect to see while walking through the town centre on a sunny September afternoon is a vast post-apocalyptic landscape populated only by the police and media crews. Just outside Debenhams! Who’d have thought?

Don’t panic though, because this vast dystopian world is actually tiny and is all happening within a sealed shipping container, which holds 1:87 scale models. They are viewable through a series of peep holes on the sides of the container.

But what is it? And why is it in Hastings?

Entitled the Aftermath Dislocation Principle (ADP), it is part of a trilogy of artworks by Jimmy Cauty. Yes, that Jimmy Cauty. One half of The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and, yup, the man who burnt a million pounds.

The Aftermath Dislocation Principle landscape is set somewhere in Bedfordshire and is known as ‘Old Bedford’. It’s a fantastic, engaging piece of art, encouraging passers by to peak at tiny fragments of a broken world.

When I chanced upon it in Hastings, the graffiti-covered container was so popular that people were queuing around it to take a look inside. Each observation port in the sides of the container displays a different scene. Through some you can barely see anything, while through others there is all kinds of shit going down. A collapsed bridge, carnage in the Burger King car park and a McDonalds which is a literal interpretation of “drive thru”.

The ADP Riot Tour is 100 per cent worth seeking out. It is in Hastings until the end of this weekend and then will continue to travel around the UK on a pilgrimage to over 38 historic riot sites. Below are the dates as we understand them, but be sure to keep an eye on the Facebook page for up to date info.